Permitting Lacombe transfer station in private was wrong: An editorial

Lacombe area residents were finally allowed to tell the St. Tammany Parish Council that they don't want a waste transfer station on Louisiana 434 near their homes, but their comments won't change anything.

IESI Corp. received permits for an office and maintenance building on the 21-acre parcel south of Interstate 12 in December. Since the parish zoning code doesn't have a designation for waste transfer stations, the decision was made administratively without a public hearing.

The Parish Council needs to close that glaring loophole in the law so the public won't be excluded from important land use decisions in the future.

Facilities that aren't covered by the zoning code are likely to be new -- and possibly controversial. That's certainly the case for waste transfer stations, where waste haulers bring household garbage to await pickup by larger trucks that take it to a landfill or disposal site.

The same company that's been given the green light to put a transfer station in Lacombe is embroiled in a legal fight with residents over efforts to build another waste transfer station north of Covington.

St. Tammany Parish, which lacks a landfill of its own, clearly needs to designate a zoning classification for waste transfer stations to ensure that they are put in appropriate places.

More broadly, when a new industry or business emerges that isn't covered by the Zoning Code, the parish should move quickly to classify it and consider a moratorium on granting permits until that can be done.

Councilman Al Hamauei, who represents the Lacombe area, tried for months to ensure that a public process would be required. Last May, he introduced a measure that would have put such stations in heavy industrial districts, requiring a conditional use permit to operate. But the Zoning Commission and Parish Council rejected that idea after Planning Director Sidney Fontenot said the classification wasn't appropriate.

The Parish Council also rejected Councilman Hamauei's proposal to place a temporary ban on issuing permits without a public hearing while the larger question of classification was being considered. The council's refusal to take action allowed the company to secure its permits without public input or notification.

Two nearby residents filed appeals with the Board of Adjustment, but the same official who approved the permits -- Mr. Fontenot -- rejected the appeals as falling past the 30-day deadline. That lack of checks and balances is worrisome, especially for a process that took place outside the public eye.

It's not surprising that Lacombe residents, who packed Thursday's council meeting, say they feel ignored by the Parish Council. There was even a question of whether they would be allowed to speak at the meeting, with lengthy discussion among members over proper parliamentary procedure.

Lacombe residents should have had the opportunity to express their opposition to the station before a permit was issued, when they had a chance to influence the decision. It's the Parish Council's fault that they were denied that chance.